This Time I'm Not Leaving Without You
by Lilypad18
Summary: Another songfic on Annabeth finding Percy. This song that is used is Lady Gaga's, "You and I". It also features other songfics. Takes place during the time of TLH to TSoN.
1. This Time I'm Not Leaving Without You

_It's been a long time since I came around,_

_Been a long time but I'm back in town_

_This time I'm not leaving without you. _

Annabeth clutched the side of the boat. There was a somewhat comforting breeze that blew the loose pieces of hair out of her face as the boat sailed through the mellow sky. She managed to keep her gaze on the tall, well-built structures of the ship; she didn't need to know how far they were up in the sky.

Her eyes were busily watching the billowy but transparent clouds that they passed; she thought her eyes managed to catch one that seemed like it was the silhouette of Percy's face. The spark of hope, that was currently dim of disappointment, came to life with a small but bright flame.

She was growing more impatient by the minute because she knew that when every, slow minute passed, she was getting closer to the location of where Percy was supposed to be. She took her hand away and made her way through the clumps of demigods that were milling around the mast of the boat; some were talking while others were looking around at the sky, clearly in awe. She was sure that from a bird's eye view of the ship, they would all have looked like one, huge clump of orange.

Her footsteps led her up the stairs to the captain of the ship: Leo Valdez.

"Hey, Leo," Annabeth said, breathlessly, "How much more time do we have?" Leo cracked a smile at her as he turned the ship to the left slightly.

"I would have to guess less than an hour. But yet again, you_ just_ asked me this question ten minutes ago." Annabeth pursed her lips; she could tell that he was secretly making fun of her childish eagerness.

"Thanks, Leo." She briefly said and left him, making her way down the stairs again.

Annabeth was certain about only one thing: after all of her never-ending searching, _this_ time, she wasn't leaving without Percy.


	2. I've Been Lost Without A Trace

_Since you've gone I've been lost without a trace_

Annabeth was idly brushing Blackjack's coat; she let her thoughts absently run away with themselves. It was only a couple of hours before the ship would take off in order to finally retrieve Percy. Annabeth found that her body rocked with excited jitters the entire day; she also discovered that when she was in Blackjack's presence, these sporadic, inevitable nerves faded away.

Annabeth knew she was like this because she subconsciously registered that the pegasus had a connection with her boyfriend. And she consciously knew that this was the closest she was going to get to him until these two, sluggish hours passed her.

Her jitters returned again at this thought, and the pace of her brushing picked up, making Blackjack protest with a sudden neigh.

The demigod gave the pegasus an apologetic look and dropped the brush to the ground. This movement sent a dusty cloud into the air. She sighed at the fallen brush; she sat on the floor, leaning against the wooden barrier that separated Blackjack from the rest of the pegasi. Porkpie nonchalantly looked over at her as he chewed some hay.

Blackjack had stopped drinking water from the metal container that was attached in the corner, and turned his attention to his master's distressed girlfriend; the pesgasus knew, even without casually chattering with her, that she looked like a mess. However, he chose the word 'lost' from his impressive vocabulary; he knew that a girl would not want to be called a 'mess'.

The pegasus slightly turned and nudged her head with his snout, accompanied with a quiet flutter of his wings. She looked up at him and Blackjack nudged her again in the forehead. The first nudge was to get her attention because he knew that he couldn't say, "Master", and she would respond. Nevertheless, the second nudge was through comfort, and Blackjack could see that she understood the hidden language behind this nudge. The girl smiled before petting his long snout.

"Thanks Blackjack," Annabeth said. The pegasus flapped his wings more in response, which made the pegasus in the next stall to him neigh in annoyance. From what Annabeth could tell, Blackjack rolled his eyes at the other pegasus. Annabeth smirked but then leaned her head back on the barrier again.

"Oh, Blackjack," She sighed as she buried her face in her hands, making her sentence sort of muffled. "Do you think we'll ever find him?" Blackjack nearly winced at the amount of doubt that dominated her voice. He was so used to her being one of the strongest figures at camp that it made him weak in the wings to see her this vulnerable.

Even though Blackjack couldn't physically talk with the girl, he understood how much his master meant to her. If Percy wasn't talking about how things were at camp or even at home, he would be talking about her. His master would list the multiple things they did or talked about that day. And that even included who initiated their make out session in the middle of Zeus's fist.

Annabeth let her hand fall from the pegasus's nose and to her absent lap and looked from the horse to the wooden ground. After a couple of slow, quiet minutes passed, the doors to the stables opened. Annabeth's head immediately perked up at the somewhat threatening sound, but the tense look on her face melted with relief once she saw who the unintentional intruder was.

"Hey, Annabeth," Jason said as he made her way for the girl. Annabeth stood up, brushing off all of the mischievous but miscellaneous pieces of hay from her shorts.

"Jason," She greeted him back, her face returning to the mask of seriousness that she wore daily now. "Are we all ready to go?"

"Yeah," Jason nodded. "Leo and some members of the Hephaestus cabin managed to make the finishing touches a bit early. We're only waiting for your presence on board." Annabeth's eyes widened slightly in response, Blackjack didn't know whether or not it was in surprise or embarrassment.

"Oh, yeah, of course," She conjured up an apologetic smile. "I'll be there in a couple of minutes." Jason nodded as he took her orders. His footsteps pattered against the wooden floor as he made his way out. Annabeth turned back to Blackjack once she saw the foreign boy's figure disappear in between the two, wooden doors.

"Wish me luck, Blackjack." She took his snout with one hand and placed a kiss on his forehead before resting her forehead on his, letting out a deep, contained sigh.

Annabeth pulled away after a couple of seconds and waved to the pegasus over her shoulder, and just like Jason, she disappeared in front of his eyes shortly after.

Even though Blackjack received some of her stress with that kiss, he also suddenly felt lucky. Blackjack smiled to himself: he finally understood Percy's definition of Annabeth's good luck kisses, because he experienced one himself.

Nevertheless, Blackjack wished all the best for the distressed demigod. He thoroughly knew that she missed him, and she knew that the pegasus did too.


	3. I Dream At Night

_I dream at night I can only see your face_

Annabeth's eyes flew open in frustration; her hands clutched the sheets with stubborn anger. For a couple of days now, she hasn't been able to fall asleep without seeing Percy's face lingering in her dreams.

Some dreams were replays of memories that she kept close to her heart, even if it was unintentional. She could recall that one night; she re-lived the time when she was holding the weight of the world on her young demigod shoulders. It was so vivid, as most demigod dreams are that she could feel the same excruciating pain she felt at the time.

She could also feel her bones dangerously creaking underneath the pressure of the world; she tossed and turned in her bed, trying to get rid of this feeling, because it felt like her whole body was going to explode at any minute. However, she could also feel that same overjoyed hope when she saw her boyfriend arrive on the scene.

She knew it was Percy, but she saw that he didn't look like he was thirteen. He looked like the last time she saw him, or when he reached the age of seventeen. The way that he looked the last time she saw him was the only way she could hold onto him until she found him. She did register that he had probably changed over time; she still didn't know whether she was scared or excited about that.

Nevertheless, she wasn't mad about seeing her lost boyfriend every night. It was the fact of seeing his face, the sight of his hazy visage was merely a tease to her. She knew that he wasn't really there, but dreams always have had that mysterious power of tricking the human mind by smearing the line of reality and the realm of dreams.

The first night she experienced one of these pragmatic dreams, she immediately woke up and sprinted all the way over to the Poseidon cabin, bare foot and in her pajamas. She was fully convinced that he had finally returned back to camp somehow. Her bright eyes, eager eyes searched for the missing body in his bed, but she returned back to the Athena cabin empty handed and ultimately feeling very disappointed that he hadn't actually returned.

Annabeth threw the old, crinkled covers off of her and sat on the edge of her bed, burying her tired face in her hands. Her bare feet touched the warm floor of the cabin. She didn't know what to do about these dreams; she didn't really want to share them with Chiron. She felt like she shared a lot of things with Chiron nowadays.

She personally didn't want these dreams to end. But, she concluded with the fact that they were bittersweet: they were nice to have at that moment, but they ended up killing her on the inside.

She was glad that in two days, the ship would finally be leaving.


End file.
